In Search of the Perfect Cafe

These past weeks I have spent in a conflict. A conflict that I realise is as old as when man started travelling. Could one disentangle food from travel? No, not even keep it at the very periphery of a sojourn but remove it completely from the equation.

I thought I had resolved the struggle, at least for myself. I am not a foodie, I reasoned. I can travel to new places without the thought of trying new food being at the core of these travels. Moreover, weren’t my parents the ones who packed home-cooked food religiously ahead of every road or train journey that we took as a family. We avoided every food hawker who tempted us with savoury delights while digging into our tiffin.

For me, food is an afterthought in my travels. Or so I thought.

Hadn’t I once travelled to Rome for the sole purpose of tasting espresso at Sant’Eustachio Caffè, a hole in the wall establishment famed around the world for the perfect crema of its espressos. What about the time when I have travelled to Seattle to drink at the Bulletproof Café to try their Tibetan tea inspired creation – the butter coffee?

Discovering new coffee shops, I realise, has unwittingly been on my agenda when I travel to new places. Rather, let’s expand that to cafes and bakeries, for I search for good buns as fervently as I seek robust coffee.

Food experiences, especially with coffee and baked goods, have punctuated my travels as much as anyone else’s. With this conflict resolved, last week I took a train to Stockholm. Only purpose of this trip was to explore a café in Sweden, Mr. Cake, that I had heard much about. I don’t particularly love sweets, or cakes. However, the assortment of cakes and coffee at Mr. Cake is an exception, I was told. I was intrigued by the unique café that was founded by Roy Fares and Mattias Ljunberg in 2017. The legend says that both these pastry chefs travelled all over the world in search of a perfect café but couldn’t find one. So, they decided to build one.

Mr. Cake is in Stureplan neighbourhood of Stockholm. I decided to walk there in the early morning hours to be the first one to enter the café. Stockholm air was crisp even though the month of June was on us. The poplar trees that lined up the Swedish capital’s streets awaited the much-delayed spring as much as the rest of us did; their branches recovering from the harsh winter that still had the city in its grip. A fifteen minutes’ walk in this weather only heightened by craving for a coffee as I entered the Mr. Cake located in one corner, at the intersection of two streets.

I stepped inside this ‘perfect café’ to a vast open space covered in warm lights. Early morning rush had not started yet and I was one of the first ones to order. Besides coffee, I was searching for a custard-filled doughnut that I had heard fables of. “Sorry, we only make them over the weekends,” informed the attendant. “But,” he said noticing my disappointment, “you can try our salted caramel cake, which is equally popular”. I nodded a yes and waited for it to be served. Just then I noticed Roy Fares at the cashier desk. The founder himself was overseeing the café. I reached out and asked how’s the pandemic years has been for the café.

“Frankly, we have just been trying to survive,” Fares said, “we are trying to bring the business back on its feet. We opened another café in Gothenburg and right now the focus in on ensuring we delight our customers”. ‎Roy Fares is one of Sweden's most popular pastry chefs and has made several appearances on TV cooking shows. He was first noticed when he won the pastry competition in Sweden in 2010.

But why would scaling up be a challenge for a high-quality café such as Mr. Cake, I wondered aloud. “The roadblock is finding good pastry chefs,” Fares said. I would have imagined that many more would have taken to the occupation of baking since cooking shows have exploded on TV but that was a flawed assumption.

My cake and coffee had arrived. I found a corner seat where I could sit quietly and observe the other patrons. Fares remained anchored in the serving area, guiding the staff. As I sipped my coffee, I realised that traveling is about gathering experiences, and food is one such experience tied intricately with exploring new destinations. Travelling need not be about food alone, however, separating the two would limit the experiences one can gather.  

With that thought crystallised, it was time for me to dig into the cake!